“An Oasis of Hope in a Chaotic World”

Description:

The Church emerged from Vatican Council II with a self-understanding that equipped Her to engage the world with the transcendent hope that comes from the Paschal Mystery. This presentation will explore those factors that Catholics need to continue to believe and practice as faithful disciples and noble citizens of the world.

Biography:

Fr. Robert J. Keller, O.P. is a Dominican priest of the Province of St. Albert the Great USA, located in the Midwest. Born February 7, 1952, the eldest of three children of John and Charlotte Keller, he grew up in northwest Minnesota. Educated by Benedictine Sisters, he attended St. John University of Collegeville for two years before transferring to NDSU, Fargo, ND to complete a degree in pharmacy in 1975. He worked for two years as a pharmacist. During the second year, he encountered Dominican friars at the University of Minnesota Newman Center, and asked to join the Order. He did his novitiate in Denver 1977-1978 where he made First Profession on August 28, 1978. He studied philosophy and theology at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque, IA, which moved to St. Louis, MO in 1981. He completed his M.A. and M.Div, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 9, 1983. He served at Holy Rosary Parish, Minneapolis, MN for 4 years, then obtained his Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA in 1993 in the Sociology of Religion, studying under John A. Coleman, S.J., Claire Fischer, and the sociologist Robert Bellah.

Fr. Keller taught for one year at Aquinas Institute, after which he served at Emory University Catholic campus ministry for two years, and taught a class there, then as pastor of the Aquinas Newman Center at UNM, Albuquerque from 1995-2005. He then served as pastor of the St. Paul Catholic Center at Indiana University from 2005-2011. He was selected to be novice master for the Province and served in Denver, CO from 2011-2020. He was assigned to the campus ministry and is an adjunct professor of theology for Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MI since 2020.

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